Read Dances with Wolf for Free Online Page B

talk about, but he was determined to go for it, anyway.
    He took a deep breath, feeling as nervous as he did astride a bull waiting to rocket out of the chute. Maybe more nervous. Say you’re sorry, he counseled himself. Make it sincere. But don’t sell out your dad while you’re at it. Can’t say a thing about the money. “So, Abs, I think—no, I know —I owe you an apology…”
    …
    Abby almost spat out her coffee. She ’ d been waiting for this moment for so long, but now that it was finally happening, she wished she could disappear, or better yet, clone herself so a tough, unfeeling robot-Abby could listen while the real, human Abby hid behind the booth, safely listening in on this most momentous event—The Apology of Wolf Olsen.
    “For…prom?” she asked. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and she barely resisted the urge to take her napkin from her lap and wipe it off.
    “Yeah. And for after that. For not explaining.”
    “You don ’ t have to—”
    “We both know I do.”
    “Okay.” He had her there. Why was she getting in his way? “Shoot.”
    He ran his hand through his hair. He looked like he was sweating, himself. She ’ d never seen him off his game before. Not once. But he sure was now.
    “I wanted to take you, I really did. But you know how I was the runner-up at the American Legion Juniors that spring in Choteau?”
    “Please, Wolf. My whole family was there. Both our families. ” How could she forget? It was the biggest moment of Wolf’s life, and she’d been his biggest fan. She ’ d been terrified for him, somehow balancing himself atop a thousand pounds of bucking thoroughbred.
    “Well, I didn ’ t know it at the time, but Silver Randolph was in the stands watching me. The Silver Randolph. You know him, right?”
    “I’m a Montana native, Wolf. I know who Silver Randolph is.” Only the idol to a generation of young rodeo boys. Retired now, but a coach with a major eye for upcoming talent. “Go on.”
    “Well, the day of the prom, late afternoon, the phone rings. And who do you think it is? Silver. Calling me , at home. He tells me that one of his boys has gotten injured, bad, and do I want to sub the very next night?”
    “Yeah…” She knew the broad strokes of this story already, and was hoping the apology part was coming sooner rather than later.
    “It was a tough choice, believe me. I knew prom meant a lot to you.”
    Abby tried not to wince. The prom didn ’ t mean a thing to her, not then, not now. It was Wolf who had meant something to her, had meant the world to her.
    “So, obviously, I made the choice I did. I went to the rodeo.”
    “And you were rewarded for it. You won first prize. Five grand, if I’m not mistaken.”
    “I did, and I can’t say the money wasn’t a factor. Just…not in the way you might imagine. ” He blushed—he was actually capable of blushing—and looked down at the table. “Listen, the important thing is this: I ’ ve always regretted the way I handled it. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
    “You mean if you had it to do all over again, you would have given up your dream just so you could take me to the prom?”
    “It felt like a one-shot deal at the time—like if I said no, I was shutting the door on the rodeo life for good. What I didn’t realize was that there would have been other chances to compete, but there’d never be another chance to…”
    “To what?”
    He was struggling for the words, white-knuckling the salt shaker like he could squeeze the answer out of it. “To be with you, Abby,” he said. “Just to be with you.”
    She felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She thought he’d never given it a second thought. “Why couldn’t you have just told me that, instead of avoiding me all this time?”
    “I haven ’ t been avoiding you, Abby. My life ’ s been crazy ever since then. I haven ’ t been home for more than a long weekend in years. But…you ’ re right. I